Setback Sees Kilcoyne Undergo Surgery On Ankle Injury

Munster prop Dave Kilcoyne has suffered a setback in the rehabilitation of his ankle injury. He underwent surgery today and is expected to be rehabbing for up to eight weeks.

That leaves him out of Ireland’s plans for the upcoming Autumn Nations Cup, while the 31-year-old loosehead is set to miss the first two of Munster’s Heineken Champions Cup pool games.

Kilcoyne was very unfortunate to sustain the injury during the opening minutes of Munster’s first match following rugby’s restart, against Leinster in August.

The province only have two fit looseheads at present – James Cronin and the newly-capped Josh Wycherley, who came off the bench to make his debut during Monday’s thrilling 38-27 victory over Cardiff Blues.

In Munster’s latest injury update, they confirmed that Jeremy Loughman sustained a shoulder injury in training last week and will be out for up to six weeks. Liam O’Connor (calf) is about a month away from returning.

Munster forwards coach Graham Rowntree commented: “It’s not ideal when this happens, but this is the game. It’s not out of the question we will look for some outside cover.

“But Josh’s performance was everything we expected. He has patiently waited his turn, has Josh. A thorough professional, he’s very fit, like his brother (lock Fineen).

“The pair of them are a joy to coach. And he took his opportunity and he did well for us on Monday. He’d have wanted longer game-time, but we put him on at the appropriate time and he didn’t let us down.”

Also during that top of the table clash, centre Dan Goggin was removed with a shoulder injury and is awaiting the results of a scan. Keith Earls (back) is finishing his rehab programme at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre.

As Munster prepare to face the Dragons in Newport on Sunday, Niall Scannell (neck), Neil Cronin (knee), RG Snyman (knee) and Joey Carbery (ankle) also remain unavailable for selection.